THE RELIQUARY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
Welcome to the Reliquary. This is an ongoing compilation of information about relics in the Christian Church. I am constantly seeking source information and links. I would greatly appreciate anything sent my way in this area, as well as about any of the other topics covered on my homepage.
This page is divided into four major sections:
SITE INFORMATION
GENERAL INFORMATION
SAINTS' PAGES
RELIC LINKS
You can also jump straight to the Gazetteer of Holy Relics.
The Catholic Encyclopedia describes a relic as "some object, notably part of the body or clothes, remaining as a memorial of a departed saint." This page will stick to this definition, as well as referring to major artifacts from the lives of the saints and the Bible, such as the famous Lance of Longinus and the Ark of the Covenant.
Please realize that while I am a Catholic, I cannot write as a Catholic. I have no authorization from the Church, and as this page is not reviewed by a censor I cannot guarantee that there are no teachings contrary to the Church. In the text written by myself I have avoided teaching anything contrary to the teachings of the Church, but as I am not a theologian it is possible that I may, through ignorance, violate this. Some of the articles by other authors presented on this webpage definitely contradict Church teaching. In the commentary on these articles I cite their sources, and these are to be considered by anyone who reads them.
Many of the articles on this website are not my own, and I must request that you treat this as any other library and respect the rights of those individuals whose work they represent. Also, please realise that I cannot vouch for the accuracy of all of the information on this page, as the information given here is only as good as the source from which it comes.
Unless otherwise stated, all Biblical quotes are taken from The New Jerusalem Bible (1985; Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc.) It is the best English translation I have come across both in the realms of readability and scholarship. The New Jerusalem Bible carries the Nihil Obstat of John Deehan, M.A., S.T.B., L.S.S., and the Imprimatur of George Basil Cardinal Hume, O.S.B., Archbishop of Westminister.
I have also heavily used Orville J. Nave's, A.M., D.D., LL.D., Nave's Topical Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1977 [reprint]).
As mentioned earlier, a relic is described by the Catholic Encyclopedia as "some object, notably part of the body or clothes, remaining as a memorial of a departed saint." When it comes to the powers attributed to these relics, memorial is the operative term here. It is God working through the intercession of the saint in question Who is credited by the Catholic Church as being the source of the power felt through some of these relics. They are not the fetishes common in other, particularly Animistic, religions, which hold that objects have power (called mana by anthropologists) of their own, although the Church does recognise that objects and places can be possessed by demons. If anything, these artifacts are to be seen as focal points for saints' veneration as "lightning rods" for Divine intervention through the intercession of the saints.
The Catholic Church has developed a method of classification of relics based on their characters. This classification system has its limitations, but overall is an excellent aid in describing these relics. It is divided into three classes, as follows:
First Class Relics: Remains of the bodies of saints, for example bones, hair, or blood, as well as the instruments of Our Lord's Passion.
Second Class Relics: Articles associated with the lives of the saints, such as clothing, books, and anything else the saints used in life.
Third Class Relics: Items, usually small pieces of cloth, which have come into contact with First or Second Class Relics and which are then treated themselves as relics. Among the first third class relics were small pieces of cloth lowered through holes in the altars of churches built over martyr's tombs or placed on the slabs covering them.
Some of the articles profiled here, while not relics in the strictest sense of the word, are miraculous images or articles associated with apparitions of saints. They have been included because they, too, are important ties to the saints and are physical objects of veneration.
For general information on relics, you may read the following articles online:
Saunders, William, Fr. 1995, 13 July. "Why Do We Venerate
Relics," from the column "Straight Answers." Arlington Catholic Herald, Diocesan
paper of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia.
This article is remotely located in the Eternal
Word Television Network's Online Library.
Thurston, Herbert. 1907-1914. "Relics." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XII, pgs. 734-738. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
The Catholic Encyclopedia bears the Nihil Obstat of Remy Lafort, Censor, and the Imprimatur of John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
All Catholic Encyclopedia files come from the New Advent Web Page, which is currently transcribing the entire work to the web. The Catholic Encyclopedia was edited by Charles G. Herbermann, Ph.D., LL.D., Edward A. Pace, Ph.D., LL.D., Condé B. Pallen, Ph.D., LL.D., John J. Wynne, S.J., and numerous collaborators.
You may also be interested in looking for the following book, which contains a good saint-by-saint profile of various relics:
Cruz, Joan Carroll. 1984. Relics. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Finally, for those interested in the cult of relics as it existed in the Middle Ages, you may wish to consult the following book and online articles:
Head, Thomas. The Cult of the Saints and their Relics. Located at ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies.
Snoek, G. J. C. 1995. Medieval Piety From Relics to the Eucharist: A Process of Mutual Interaction. Leiden, New York, and Cologne: E. J. Brill. This is a volume in the series Studies in the History of Christian Thought, under the editorship of Heiko A. Oberman. It deals with the interactive relationship between Catholics' understanding of the Eucharist and relics.
Select a reliquary to visit, arranged in alphabetical order by saint.
THE RELIQUARY OF SAINT ANNE, MOTHER OF THE
BLESSED VIRGIN
The Reliquary of St. Anne contains information on the following relics:
The Reliquary of St. Anthony of Padua contains information on the following relics:
The Reliquary of St. Christine contains information on the following:
The Reliquary of St. Irene Chrysovalantou, an Orthodox Saint, contains information on the following:
The Reliquary of St. John the Baptist contains information on the following relic:
The Reliquary of St. Longinus contains information on the following relic:
The Reliquary of the Mother of God contains the following sub-reliquaries:
The Reliquary of St. Peter (Petar) of Montenegro, a Montenegrin Orthodox saint, contains information on the following relic:
THE RELIQUARY OF SAINT SAVA, MONK
The Reliquary of St. Sava (Sabbas), an early monastic of the Judean Desert, contains information on the following relic:
THE RELIQUARY OF SAINT THOMAS À
BECKET, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, MARTYR
The Reliquary of St. Thomas à Becket contains information on:
Picture credits: The image of St. John the Baptist is taken from the Orthodox Page in America Orthodox Icons Page; the image of St. Longinus is taken from Basilica di San Pietro: VI -- Interiore on the Christus Rex homepage; the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is taken from The Holy Rosary Homepage's Pictures Gallery; the image of St. Peter of Montenegro is taken from the Legal Foundations of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church (MOC) page.
Br. Anthony, O.S.F.: Homepage of the Archivist of Sacred Relics at St. Francis Friary, Fargo, North Dakota.
Blessed Miguel Pro, S. J.: Webpage dedicated to the Mexican martyr, maintained by anthropology professor Fr. Raymond A. Bucko, S.J. and author Ann Ball.
Devoted to Saints: Biographies of several saints and blesseds; a page maintained by Anthony R. Gavin. Franciscan Brothers of the Sacred Heart: Homepage of the contemplative order's St. Francis Friary, located in Fargo, North Dakota.
The International Crusade for Holy Relics, USA.
Saints Alive: Authentic Relics of the Saints: Thomas Serafin's mission webpage, this page offers a display of pictures of various relics and discussion on those relics.
Wayne V. Vedeckis' Relics Page: Devoted to holy relics.